Air
by StupidBolts
Summary: During a simple fly to burn off energy before recharge, Airazor comes across a strange mech lurking in the desert. Implied TigertronXAirazor, SilverboltXBlackarachnia and one sided QuickstrikeXBlackarachnia.


_**Naturally it is night.  
>Under the overturned lute with its<br>One string I am going my way  
>Which has a strange sound.<strong>_

_**This way the dust, that way the dust.  
>I listen to both sides<br>But I keep right on.  
>I remember the leaves sitting in judgement<br>And then winter.**_

_**I remember the rain with its bundle of roads.  
>The rain taking all its roads.<br>Nowhere.**_

_**Young as I am, old as I am,**_

_**I forget tomorrow, the blind man.  
>I forget the life among the buried windows.<br>The eyes in the curtains.  
>The wall<br>Growing through the immortelles.  
>I forget silence<br>The owner of the smile.**_

_**This must be what I wanted to be doing,  
>Walking at night between the two deserts,<br>Singing. **_

_**-Air, by William Stanley Merwin**_

XxX

Airazor swooped across the plains of the Savannah, exploring while Tigertron ate and took a well earned nap. She never complained when he fell asleep during their mission when they should be travelling, because she could always just curl up next to him and listen to her companion dream.

But tonight, she felt particularly energized; she just wanted to fly! She wouldn't fly too far from their camp sight, but she wanted to get as far as possible to burn more energy.

She sighed heavily at the sunset; it's golden glow giving in to the winking stars and bidding her adieu. The falcon femme dove a little lower to the ground, reciting poetry to herself quietly; a hobby she'd picked up from Dinobot who was, in her view, her gay best friend.

"Moon shed a tear  
>Moon give me fear<br>Moon light my way  
>Moon after day<p>

Moon give me strength  
>Moon has no length<br>What I want to say,  
>Is Moon after day"<p>

She Maximised as she touched down, but instantly got the feeling she was being watched. Her emerald optics danced around the area in search of any Predacons or roaming beasts, but she found none. Thus, she continued.

"Moon is full  
>Moon is dull<br>Moon light my way  
>Moon after day<p>

Moon is my life  
>Moon gave me a knife<br>Moon slit my wrist  
>Moon a wonderful bliss"<p>

There was a rustle of leaves off to her left, catching her attention. She narrowed her optics and crept towards it, whispering.

"What I want to say  
>Moon after day!"<p>

Her brow and silver arm darted into a bush, grabbing hold of something metal. There was an undignified squawk from her prey as she wrenched a gold and turquoise form out from the branches and tossed him into the sand.

"Tarnation! Yer strong fer a pretty lil' thang!" The odd looking mech screeched as he raised his arms in defence. Airazor stared at how one of his hands was contorted of eight spindly fingers, looking much like a tumble weed, while the other was shaped like a golden King Cobra head. The mech stared back at her with wide, red optics, jittering slightly.

"What in the name of Cybertron _are_ you?" She didn't want to seem rude, but the mech looked to be how she imagined Waspinator to be if he were put together wrong!

"Ah'm a Predacon sister! What th' slag 're you?" Airazor stiffened. Figures how a Predacon would look so deformed. The mech blinked then smacked himself in the forehead. "Oh, slaggin' _duh!_ You ain't never seen a fuzor before 'ave yah?"

"A fuzor?" he sat up slowly, optics casting all over her lithe form.

"The name's Quickstrike, sugar! Yer's?"

"Airazor..." she mumbled, not letting her stance slip.

"Well then _Airazor_, from th' way yer standin', ah'd say yah'll was a Maxi; am ah right?" Quickstrike moved to stand up, but paused when Airazor hissed. He blinked, and then replied with a far more potent hiss, a _natural _hiss that made Airazor reel back in surprise.

The fuzor chuckled and stood up at last, though seeing as he was only a couple of inches taller than Rattrap, it didn't make much difference.

"So then lil' misseh; what's a cute Maxi like yerself doin' all th' way out here?" he asked, wiggling his spidery finger which had somehow gotten tangled in the scuffle.

"Scouting mission..." she replied slowly, watching those fingers as though they were hypnotising her. "What about you?"

"Me? Jus' tryin' t' get away from that blender butt, inside-out freak!" he snorted. Airazor raised an optic ridge and tilted her head slightly. Blender butt? Inside-out freak?

Inferno.

"You out here all alone, hon?" Quickstrike interrupted her realisation.

"No, my comrade is resting elsewhere," she replied. "he was tired..."

"So why ain'tchu sleepin' wit yer _boyfriend_?" he snorted. Airazor flinched, her face plate growing hot. Then she regained enough composure to stamp her foot down to glare at the shorter mech.

"Tigertron is _not_ my boyfriend you mismatched freak!" she snapped, fists clamping at her sides. She should just blast this creep like he was Terrorsaur! But Quickstrike just chuckled again.

"Ah think yah'll is protestin' too much darlin'!" he nodded slightly, his cobra hand smirking where his masked face could not.

"Wh-what?"

"Yer bright red sweet stuff." Airazor's hands quickly came over her face and she turned sideways in embarrassment, though she knew it wasn't a smart idea to do so in the presence of an enemy. It was strange, usually only Rattrap or Dinobot could embarrass her enough to act like a flustered academy femme.

Quickstrike laughed openly and carefully patted her shoulder with his cobra hand.

"No need t' be all hot 'n' bothered, gorgeous!"

"What's with all the pet names?" she snapped.

"Eh? It's jus' somethin' ah do. Yah'll can ask mah sugar-bot!" he answered.

"... Who would be?"

"'Arachnia." Airazor visibly grimaced. How could anyone think Blackarachnia was sweet enough to call her _sugar-bot._ Quickstrike snorted at her expression. "Don' look like that. She's a fine piece a' work." Typical.

"So what about her personality?"

"She's a friendly lil' scamp." Quickstrike's cobra head smirked again. Airazor shuddered.

"She flirts doesn't she?"

"Yeah, and?"

"She's just using her charm for her own selfish gain." The falcon femme crossed her arms over her chest.

"Eh... don' be like that beautiful! With th' right moves; yah'll could be as tasteh as mah sugar-bot." Airazor made a noise of disgust, glaring down at the laid back looking fuzor.

"Are you suggesting I act like that... that..."

"Slut?"

"_Yes!_ That slut! … Wait..." she glanced down at Quickstrike, realising she'd turned her head to the now dark sky in a fit of exclamation. The fuzor looked back at her, looking slightly amused. "You... you just called your girlfriend a slut?"

"Hmph, she ain't mah gal, though ah'd like her t' be. Nah, she's far more inta' wolfie than me." he shook his head in annoyance. Wolfie? Airazor recalled Cheetor telling her about the new comer Silverbolt, who was half wolf and half eagle. She'd actually been quite eager to meet him.

"So she likes Silverbolt..." she said aloud. Quickstrike nodded.

"Apparently. Sugar-bot seems t' like the gentlebot type... 'cept I guess I don' do it right." he shrugged.

"... Well, you have yet to attack me." The fuzor shrugged again.

"Dun feel like it. Besides, I was enjoyin' listenin' t' yer musin'." She puffed up her cheeks in irritation, and placed her servos on her hips, titling forward slightly to emphasise her offence.

"I wasn't _musing_ you idiot! It was poetry!"

"Same thang, if yah'll ask me..."

"How'd you figure that?"

"Eh, poets usually talk about what they're feelin', right? What they think about somethin'?"

"Yes."

"What's the definition of the word 'musin''?" She quickly looked it up on her internal dictionary, something she found in her internal computer that she shared with Dinobot, apparently.

"Absorbed in thought; meditative. Contemplation; reflection."

"Right, an' how d'ya write poetry?" she thought for a minute.

"In a somewhat meditative state."

"There yah go."

"Huh." She hadn't thought of it that way. Dinobot had said it was a form of expression and imagination; to let the world know just what you were thinking or contemplating.

"How about another?"

"Poem?"

"Yeah."

"Uh... only if you come up with one!" Quickstrike blinked, he wasn't too good at the literary arts. Though he'd heard Tarantulas and Megatron monologue before, wasn't that kind of the same thing?

"What about?"

"Anything. I don't mind."

"Hm," he thought for a minute.

"Ruin is what we need –  
>Despair is what we feed<br>Upon in poetry

A shock resets the nerves –  
>Helps remould the curves<br>Of written art

Catharsis helps portray –  
>Actin' out a play<br>On expurgation

Tears or hidden fears  
>Release the bottled years<br>To ink a page:

The pen be our salvation."

He squinted as Airazor stared; mouth agape and optics wide.

"Was it that bad?"

"It was beautiful!" she suddenly came across as a giddy sparkling, raising on her toes slightly and clasping her hands together to brace them against her chest. "Have you ever done it before?"

"Nope... never got the chance, an' I ain't ever needed too." he looked above her head a bit. "Yer turn darlin'."

"Again with the pet names?"

"Ah think I'll stick wit' darlin' fer you." Airazor smiled. For a Predacon, Quickstrike was actually quite good company. Then again, she'd thought the same thing about Dinobot. She took a deep breath and shuttered her optics.

"'Twas long ago and far away  
>When I thought there'd be no other way.<br>Now I write this work of art  
>To express the longings of a foolish heart.<p>

Love, I feel this desire,  
>No holds barred, to go through the fire.<br>Will I triumph? Or will I fail  
>And love you, to no avail?<p>

I bet fanaticism isn't a crime  
>Although I think this is the right time<br>To get out of my zone, defy fantasy,  
>And get together, yes, you and me.<p>

You are Daniel, and Eve is I.  
>Could we give this love a try?"<p>

When she opened her eyes, she saw Quickstrike's were closed. He was listening intently.

"Hm... that was cute."

"You like it?"

"Yeah... go tell to yer boyfriend." The cobra head smirked. She narrowed her optics.

"Only if you go tell yours to Blackarachnia."

"What the slag for?"

"She might like it." Airazor smiled brightly. Quickstrike slowly began to smile back. There was a silence. "We should be fighting."

"Should be rippin' each other's throats out."

"But instead; we're reciting poetry." They both paused, then chuckled a bit.

"I dun feel like fightin' darlin'."

"Me neither. So let's just go our separate ways." Quickstrike nodded.

"Sounds good." There was a click and his mask suddenly retracted. Airazor gasped; he had quite a well sculpted face! He slipped his cobra hand under her left servo, raising it up and kissing it gently. "S'been a pleasure, Airazor." She could now actually see his smirk.

"That it has." She smiled. His mask appeared again and he turned to swagger away.

"Oi, make me a promise darlin'?" he abruptly called as she prepared to take off back to Tigertron.

"What is it?"

"Promise that yah'll actually _will_ tell that Tiger-whatever bloke yer pretty lil' poem." he looked back at her coyly. She smiled again and nodded.

"Promise _me_ you won't get too attached to Blackarachnia, and you have yourself a deal." he laughed loudly and waved her off dismissively. She took that as a "I promise".

XxX

"That was beautiful!" Tigertron beamed at her.

"Really?" her optics sparkled slightly.

"Yes! You have such a talent!" he praised, taking her hand and rubbing her thumb over the back. "You should recite poetry more often."

"Alright then, sounds like a plan." she smiled.

XxX

_**Love will creep on you,**_

_**Love will seek those unaware.**_

_**Love will snatch you up.**_

_**- Tala Driver.**_

XxX

**Personally, I'm not a full blown poet like Dinobot, I'm more into doing easy lil' haikus like the one up there! But I like listening to it and reading it. I didn't come up with all the poems myself! They're just random bits and bobs I found on . **

**I know Airazor and Tigertron never meet the fuzors! I thought it was a shame so I decided slap this together. **

**Yes, Dinobot is Airazor's gay best friend. The girls at my school all want a gay best friend, but I actually have one! (Love you Danny-chan) :D I am of course referring to my love of DinoTrap! But that's beside the point here.**

**Cybertron xxx**


End file.
